Negotiating Gender: New Perspectives on Asian American Literary Studies

This proposed collection of essays intends to tackle a fundamental issue inAsian American literary studies—the gender gap, i.e. a fission roughlyalong gender lines in Asian American thinking and articulation about ethnicidentity. Ever since the early 1970s, Asian American feminists andnationalists have been engaged in a heated exchange on the roles of gender,race, and culture in the formation of an Asian American identity, withgender being the defining element. While the debate has invigorated AsianAmerican critical discourse, the prolonged warring atmosphere has alsodivided Asian American community.

In recent years, scholars such as King-Kok Cheung, Sau-ling Wong, and JinqiLing have sought to move beyond gender opposition in Asian Americanthinking and practice. This move is in line with critical developments inrecent gender and race theories, masculinity studies, and queer studies.While we are aware of the pitfalls of "essentialized ethnicity" in JudithButler’s and bell hook’s sense, we are also eager for the possibility ofnegotiations toward a "coalitional politics." We would like to see essaysthat explore new perspectives on Asian American self-definition andidentity in the spirit of gender reconciliation rather than genderopposition. Possible sub-areas of interest may include but not limited to:

Gender and the politics of being Asian American

Asian American masculinity and femininity

Feminization and emasculation of Asian American men

Asian American transgender identities

Representations of Asian American sexuality in mainstream Americanmedia

Globalization, migration, and Asian American sexuality

Race, gender, sexuality and Asian American self-portraiture

Potential contributors are invited to submit completed essays as Wordattachments by June 30, 2005 to both Professor Wenxin Li (wli79_at_yahoo.com)and Professor Chingyen Sawatsky (csawatsky_at_siena.edu). Queries andquestions are welcome. Selected essays may also form an MLA specialsession in December.